Profile

Denisse Córdova Montes is a human rights advocate and educator. Her work focuses on human rights approaches to food system inequities, state and local implementation of human rights, and the role of social movements in shaping human rights norms and discourse. From 2019-2024, she was Lecturer-in-Law at the University of Miami School of Law and served as Acting Associate Director of its Human Rights Clinic. At the Human Right Clinic, Córdova Montes taught and supervised law students in cutting-edge human rights litigation and advocacy at the local, regional, and international levels. She was the recipient of the 2024 University of Miami Provost's Excellence in Experiential Teaching Award for her outstanding dedication to student learning and the 2023 Richard Hausler Golden Apple Award for her significant contributions to the law school's student body academically and through extracurricular activities. Before joining the University of Miami School of Law, Córdova Montes was based in Germany from 2012 to 2018, where she worked at FIAN International, an international human rights organization that promotes and defends the right to food. Before that, she worked on public health and human rights approaches to address HIV/AIDS at the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Geneva, Switzerland, conducted research on access to reproductive health services by low-income immigrant women in Massachusetts, and represented immigrants in U.S. immigration proceedings in Florida and Pennsylvania. Córdova Montes holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Public Health from Boston University, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Miami. She currently serves on the board of FIAN International and is a co-founder of the National Right to Food Community of Practice.

• International Human Rights
• Food Systems
• Gender and Women's Rights

Juris Doctor (J.D.), University of Pennsylvania (2012)
Master of Public Health (M.P.H.), Boston University (2008)
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), University of Miami (2004)

Her research and scholarship focus on human rights approaches to food system inequities, state and local implementation of human rights, and the role of social movements in shaping human rights norms and discourse. She is currently under contract working on a book on food and human rights.

• Co-Editor, Human Rights At Home Professors Blog (2021-present)
• International Board member, FIAN International (2021-present)
• Co-Founder and Board Member, National Right to Food Community of Practice (2021-present)

• Recipient of Provost’s Teaching Award for Excellence in Experiential Teaching, University of Miami (2024)
• Recipient of the Richard Hausler Golden Apple Award for the faculty member contributing the most to the student body both academically and through his or her extracurricular activities, University of Miami School of Law (2023)
• Awarded Faculty Programming Grant for April 2023 Food, Housing, and Racial Justice Symposium, University of Miami School of Law (2023)
• Awarded Native American and Global Indigenous Studies (NAGIS) Grant to develop courses on Indigenous Women’s Rights and Collective Rights, University of Miami (2022)